AHC: Ovid's Metamorphoses becomes a holy book

SeaCambrian

Could the mythic-literary epic Ovid's Metamorphoses have become a codified holy book of a religion?

In general, what texts could most realistically form the canon for a "reformed" Greco-Roman pagan religion?
 
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Timeline Junkie

SeaCambrian said:
Could the mythic-literary epic Ovid's Metamorphoses have become a codified holy book of a religion?

In general, what texts could most realistically form the canon for a "reformed" Greco-Roman pagan religion?
Click to expand...

I would be very interested to see this come into fruition.


Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

and of course the works of the Roman Emperor Julian also known as Julian the Apostate
 
Shahrasayr

Shahrasayr

SeaCambrian said:
Could the mythic-literary epic Ovid's Metamorphoses have become a codified holy book of a religion?

In general, what texts could most realistically form the canon for a "reformed" Greco-Roman pagan religion?
Click to expand...

I think the Metamorphoses can act as the Bhagavada Purana of a reformed Graeco-Roman faith. If you can get another Orpheus-like character to use the Metamorphoses as a backdrop for an equivalent for a Bhagavada Gita then perhaps Caesar or even Ovid can become a Herculean character who acts as a folk-prophet/god/deity.

But this is looking at it from a very Hindu and Bhakti sort of view and there are probably better methods to use.
 

Frrf

It could become part of a Greco-Roman religious canon together with the Trojan Cycle, Hesiod's Theogony, the Aeniad and probably a few others, in much the same way as Hinduism has the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana etc. Easiest way would be to snuff out Christianity early on. Otherwise, as a codification in response to the threat of Christianity undertaken pre-Constantine. Otherwise, perhaps as a religious text for a neoclassicist religion founded sometime from the Renaissance onward that somehow survives and thrives.
 

Timeline Junkie

Philip said:
Julian is not in the same class as Ovid or Marcus Aurelius in either style or content.
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Yeah I get it, I do understand I was just trying stretch the possibility of what works could form the basis. Julian is a really interesting historical figure with an interesting philosophical perspective.
 

Jfoul

I had wondered about this a lot, along with the Hesiod's Theogony gaining a status akin to sacred texts. If it was to influence more Greco-Roman polytheistic religion, it would be interesting to see how these texts are interpreted a few centuries down the line.

Extrapolating it a little, it would also be interesting to consider how these texts would be RE-interpreted if there was a Greco-Roman equivalent of the Protestant Reformation.
 

Arcavia

I dont think Hinduism is the best analogy, purely because a reformed Roman polytheism will develop in the context of a single state. It might have some parallels to the development of Chinese religion, however, albeit with different belief structures.
 
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